"This is not about the freedom of individuals to practice their religion, this is about a license to discriminate against individuals."UPDATE 10/19/14: Idaho Pastors Face Fines, Jail for Refusing 'Gay Wedding'
-- Sarah Warbelow, Human Rights Campaign (homosexual advocacy organization)
"What today's bill does is allow private individuals and businesses to use religion to discriminate, sending a message that Arizona is intolerant and unwelcoming."
-- Alessandra Soler, Executive Director, The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona
"[The bill] goes after unprotected classes of people and we all know that the biggest unprotected class of people in the state is the LBGT community."
-- Rep. Chad Campbell (Dem, Phoenix)
UPDATE 6/20/15: Homosexuals Force Closure of Iowa Wedding Chapel
For background, read Media Say Law Forces Christians into Gay Agenda and also read Oregon Forces Christian Baker to do Lesbian 'Wedding' as well as Christian Photographer Guilty for Refusing Lesbians Says NM Supreme Court
In addition, read Senator Ted Cruz Says Gay Agenda Ends Christian Liberty
UPDATE 3/3/14 - American Decline: Obama's Gay Agenda vs Christians
-- From "Arizona Law Allowing Businesses to Refuse Service for Religious Reasons Heads to Gov. Brewer to Sign" by Reuters 2/21/14
Under the bill, a business owner would have a defense against a discrimination lawsuit, provided a decision to deny service was motivated by a "sincerely held" religious belief and that giving such service would have substantially burdened the exercise of their religious beliefs.
The bill passed the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives 33-27 on Thursday, a day after it won similar approval in the state Senate. It will go to Republican Governor Jan Brewer, who has not indicated whether she will sign it. [UPDATE: Brewer vetoes bill -- see excerpts below]
State Representative Eddie Farnsworth said the bill was wrongly being portrayed as discriminatory and that it only made "minor tweaks" to current state law.
"This is simply protecting religious freedom that is recognized and defended and supported in the First Amendment that the founders wanted - nothing else," he said.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Gay rights activists in uproar over Arizona 'religious freedom' bill" by Cindy Carcamo, Los Angeles Times 2/20/14
Republican Rep. Eddie Farnsworth, a House sponsor, said there had been an “onslaught of attacks on religious freedoms.” The bill, he said, “is trying to protect those freedoms.”
Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, is confident that courts would strike down the measure if it became law.
“The Arizona Senate bill is blatantly unconstitutional,” Minter said. “It violates the requirement of equal protection of the laws by openly singling out a particular group of people and saying it’s OK to discriminate against them.”
Technically, the bill expands the definition of the free exercise of religion, allowing a faithful person to adhere to his or her beliefs in practice. It also expands the definition of “person” to include entities such as businesses, associations and corporations.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Religious Right in Arizona Cheers Bill Allowing Businesses to Refuse to Serve Gays" By Michael Paulson And Fernanda Santos, New York Times 2/21/14
“In America, people should be free to live and work according to their faith, and the government shouldn’t be able to tell us we can’t do that,” said Joseph E. La Rue, the legal counsel at Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal organization based in Scottsdale, Ariz., that advocates religious liberty and supports the measure passed by the State Legislature. “Faith shouldn’t be something we have to leave inside our house.”
Most states where same-sex marriage is legal have exemptions for religious organizations, but not for private businesses or individuals, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Last year [Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer] vetoed a similar religious freedom bill, arguing that it was a distraction from priorities lawmakers had yet to address, including the state budget.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Arizona heading off fights over homosexual weddings" by Bob Unruh, World Net Daily 2/22/14
[House Bill 2153] allows individuals to use their faith as a defense against a lawsuit. It would expand the state’s definition of the exercise of religion to include the practice and observance, and allow for legal claims of free exercise regardless whether the government is a party to any proceeding.
It also would protect “any individual, association, partnership, corporation, church, religious assembly or institution or other business organization” and allow them to establish a free exercise defense by affirming that an action is motivated by a religious belief, that belief is sincerely held it is substantially burdened.
“Arizona’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act has been on the books since 1999. This bill seeks to simply close loopholes within this law that might jeopardize a person’s free exercise of religion in Arizona,” [The Center for Arizona Policy] explains.
“It clarifies that a person may assert a RFRA claim if his/her religious exercise is likely to be burdened. A person should not have to wait to assert a claim if there is a strong likelihood that that person’s religious exercise will be burdened by a state action.”
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Arizona lawmakers pass controversial anti-gay bill" by Ray Sanchez and Miguel Marquez, CNN 2/21/14
The bill is being pushed by the Center for Arizona Policy, a conservative group opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage. . . .
Cathi Herrod, the center's president, told CNN on Friday, "The Arizona bill has a very simple premise, that Americans should be free to live and work according to their religious faith. It's simply about protecting religious liberty and nothing else."
Herrod said the bill's opponents are "showing unbelievable hostility toward religious beliefs."
"America still stands for the principle that religious beliefs matter (for) something in this country, that we have the right to freely exercise our religious beliefs," she said.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
From "Arizona passes bill letting people to refuse service to gays over religious objections" by Bob Christie, Associated Press 2/21/14
Similar religious protection legislation has been introduced in Ohio, Mississippi, Idaho, South Dakota, [Kansas,] Tennessee and Oklahoma, but Arizona’s plan is the only one that has passed.
Arizona’s voters approved a ban on same-sex marriage as a state constitutional amendment in 2008. It’s one of 29 states with such prohibitions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Federal judges have recently struck down bans in Utah, Oklahoma and Virginia, but those decisions are under appeal.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read about Kentucky, where Homosexuals FAIL to Defeat Religious Liberty
UPDATE 3/26/15: Indiana's New Religious Freedom Law Fights Gay Agenda
UPDATE 4/8/14: Democrat Missouri Governor Signs Religious Liberty Law
UPDATE 4/6/14: New Mississippi Religious Liberty Law Infuriates Liberals
UPDATE 2/27/14: From "After veto in Arizona, conservatives vow to fight for religious liberties" by Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post
Gov. Jan Brewer (R) vetoed legislation on Wednesday that would have provided a wide variety of religious exemptions to Arizona businesses, after major business groups, prominent Republicans and gay rights advocates argued that it would amount to discrimination.
“There is a sense of alarm within the pro-family movement and among conservative Christians that there [are] growing threats to religious liberty, and many of those threats do relate to the agenda of the sexual revolutionaries,” said Peter Sprigg, a senior fellow for policy studies at the Family Research Council.
The Arizona measure amended the state’s version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which passed with broad bipartisan support in 1993 and says that the government may not pass a law that “substantially burdens a person’s exercise of religion.”
At least 30 states have similar religious protections through statutes or their constitutions, and several conservatives question why they are now sparking controversy.
To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.
Also read Supreme Court Rules Bible as 'Hate Speech' in Canada as well as European Union High Court Rules Gay Agenda Trumps Christianity
In addition, read Corporation Opposes Gay Agenda, Causes Media Storm
For further background, read President Obama Raises Gay Agenda above Religious Liberty
And read how President Obama, et. al., have mounted a massive Gay Agenda assault on America's First Amendment religious liberty through the military, and the Dept. of Justice, and the court system nationwide. For example, read about President Obama's hypocritical speech at his recent annual National Prayer Breakfast.
